1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a mounting case, which is used for mounting an electro-optical panel such as a liquid crystal panel in an electro-optical device such as a liquid crystal device, to a method of manufacturing the same, to an electro-optical device including such a liquid crystal panel, and to an electronic apparatus such as a liquid crystal projector which uses the electro-optical device, for example, as a light valve.
2. Related Art
When this type of electro-optical panel is used as a light valve in an electronic apparatus such as a liquid crystal projector, the electro-optical panel is not installed into a case body, a casing, or a frame of the apparatus in an exposed state, but it is mounted or accommodated in a proper mounting case to be installed. The reason why an electro-optical panel is accommodated in a mounting case is that the fixing, the attaching, and the optical-positioning of the electro-optical panel with respect to a case body or the like can be easily performed by providing a proper screw hole in the mounting case.
Moreover, in this specification, the construction where a single electro-optical panel performing an electro-optical operation is accommodated in a mounting case or where an electro-optical panel connected to a flexible wiring substrate or the like is accommodated in a mounting case is called ‘the electro-optical device’ as a whole.
In an electronic apparatus such as a projector, light projected on an electro-optical panel is considerably intense. Therefore, in order to prevent an electro-optical panel from being deteriorated by a high temperature, a cooling mechanism has been provided in a mounting case as described in JP-A-2004-198933, JP-A-2003-5104, and JP-A-2002-107698. Specifically, on the surface of a mounting case, a fin, an inclined portion, or a tapered portion is provided. An inclined portion or a tapered portion acts so as to reduce the resistance of a mounting case with respect to the flow of cooling air to be supplied into an electronic apparatus by a fan and efficiently guides the cooling air to the surface of a mounting case.
As such, a mounting case has functions of cooling an electro-optical panel as well as simply accommodating the electro-optical panel, as described above. Therefore, a mounting case has a relatively complicated shape. For this reason, a mounting case is generally manufactured by die-casting. In general, die-casting indicates a technique and product where a melted alloy of aluminum, magnesium, or zinc is injected into a mold at high speed and high pressure so as to be molded. Die-casting has an advantage in that high dimensional precision is achieved and a product having a complicated shape can be manufactured.
In die-casting, however, there is a problem in that the degradation of the manufacturing quality of the mounting case occurs due to burrs or erosion.